Glattal region eyes tram expansion
Two news items today look at future tram expansion in the Glattal area.
The first of these projects is the extension of Glattalbahn beyond the airport through Kloten and Bassersdorf. This is part of the project formerly known as Ringbahn Hardwald. The 'ring' is likely to be realised in phases on account of the differing needs and stages of development of the places being served. The extension from the airport to Bassersdorf looks set to be higher in priority. The canton and communities have announcd that they have agreed on the future alignment and this is now being reserved. With available funds being required by more pressing tram projects such as Limmattalbahn and Tram Hardbrücke, construction of this section is not likely to commence soon, and an opening before 2020 is unlikely. However, a clear demarcation of future land use is necessary to allow land development projects to go ahead.
The other project that has hit the news is a proposed tram extension from Schwamendingen (presumably branching off or diverting route 9 at Altried) and continuing via Zentrum Glatt to Dietlikon's industrial area. This area has many large shops (including IKEA) and serious congestion is frequent. The local bus services get caught up in this and so fail to provide a viable alternative. Dietlikon has in the past rejected proposals to create a bus lane but is now surprisingly supportive of this tram project (which is not new, but has not been mentioned for a long time).
Of course the biggest Glattal tram event right now is the opening of Glattalbahn tomorrow.
this item was added on 10.12.2010 (5327 days ago)
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